Mustangs Spoil Titans' Final Home Date

Fullerton, Calif. -
Tyler McGinn scored 16 points and five Cal Poly teammates also were in double figures Saturday afternoon as Cal Poly won its fifth game in a row with a 90-80 Big West Conference victory at Cal State Fullerton.

The win improved the Mustangs' record to 16-10 overall and 7-5 in the Big West and kept alive their hopes for a second-place tie and the No. 2 seed in the post-season tournament. Fullerton got 26 points from Bobby Brown and 20 off the bench from Marcus Crenshaw but fell to 19-8 and 9-5 after its home finale. The Titans remain in second place but will be the No. 3 seed if Cal Poly wins both its home games next week vs. Cal State Northridge and Pacific. The Titans have only a non-conference game at UC Davis remaining.

Cal Poly and Fullerton came into the game ranked Nos. 1 and 2 in the Big West in 3-point field goal shooting and that's how it played out. The Mustangs made 10 of 24 from behind the arc while the Titans made only 9 of 33, the latter number tying the school record for attempts. Cal Poly outshot the Titans overall, 54 percent to 40 percent.

Cal Poly took control of the game with a 9-0 spurt to open the second half and break away from a 42-42 tie. Neither team led by more than 4 points in a seesaw first half. Andrew Green scored Fullerton's first second-half points at 15:42 but the Mustangs then went on a 10-4 run for a 13-point lead, which would be its biggest.

Fullerton got as close as 4 points at 4:50 when Crenshaw hit a 3-pointer but the Mustangs got four consecutive free throws from Dawin Whiten and Vance Dreshawn and the Titans never got closer than 6 points again.

After opening the season 0-6 on the road, the Mustangs have won five of their last six away from home. Fullerton lost at home for only the second time in 14 games.